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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

VMA Awards 2012: Handicapping the Video of the Year Nominees

The 2012 VMA nominees are out, and while there are certainly plenty of big names and obvious choices, there are a few surprises buried in there. Frank Ocean gets a nod, as do A$AP Rocky, Jack White and Regina Spektor. But those are curiosities -- Rihanna, Drake, Katy Perry et. al. get the lion's share of the list.

The grand prize nominees are Katy Perry, Gotye, Rihanna, Drake (featuring Rihanna) and M.I.A. Notice anything about that list? IT CONTAINS ONLY ONE AMERICAN! We can't even win at pop music anymore. And on Olympics week, no less. Whoever's on the nominating committee should be ashamed. But there's no going back now, so we might as well bet on the field we've got.

Gotye, "Somebody That I Used To Know"YouTube Views: 291,261,391
Odds: 10 to 1
How weird is it to be Goyte right now? What is it like playing to thousands of people but 85% of them are disappointed by all but one of your songs? Incidentally, he doesn't have nearly as commanding a lead in the view count as I expected. Seriously? Nearly two hundred million for...

Rihanna, "We Found Love"YouTube Views: 192,848,653
Odds: 7 to 1
Rihanna looks a lot like this year's headline. She's nominated in five categories and her celebrity will probably never be greater than it has been this year.

M.I.A., "Bad Girls"YouTube Views: 23,408,532
Odds: 100 to 1
Never going to happen, but you have to love the fact that it's on this list at all. Important side note: It's time to re-evaluate Maya. That racket makes a lot more sense today.

The complete list of nominees is on the next page. Did you know there's a Best Video With a Message category?